Narrow escape for man as truck plunges into Oshawa store

Driver unhurt as pick-up slams through window

Truck in store

Jeff Mitchell/ Metroland

OSHAWA -- Emergency crews responded to a plaza in south Oshawa Saturday morning after a pick-up truck plunged into a store front. The driver of the vehicle wasn't hurt. Although a number of people were inside the Absolute Discount Store at Wentworth and Glen streets, no injuries were reported. April 14, 2012.

Truck in store

Jeff Mitchell/ Metroland

OSHAWA -- Emergency crews responded to a plaza in south Oshawa Saturday morning after a pick-up truck plunged into a store front. The driver of the vehicle wasn't hurt. Although a number of people were inside the Absolute Discount Store at Wentworth and Glen streets, no injuries were reported. April 14, 2012.

Truck in store

Jeff Mitchell/ Metroland

OSHAWA -- Emergency crews responded to a plaza in south Oshawa Saturday morning after a pick-up truck plunged into a store front. The driver of the vehicle wasn't hurt. Although a number of people were inside the Absolute Discount Store at Wentworth and Glen streets, no injuries were reported. April 14, 2012.

OSHAWA -- A slow-working automated teller machine may have saved John Stinson's life Saturday morning.

Mr. Stinson and friend Del Morgan had just exited the Absolute Discount Store, in a plaza on the southwest corner of Wentworth and Glen streets, when a pick-up truck plunged through the store front shortly before 11 a.m., shattering a large plate glass window and causing significant damage to a brick wall.

The men had been using the ATM inside the store moments before the crash. Mr. Stinson said he decided to try another machine in the plaza because the one he was waiting on was working too slowly. When he emerged from a nearby store he saw shattered glass and bricks strewn about, and the tailgate of a Chevy Colorado truck protruding from the store front.

"If I'd waited I'd probably be under there," Mr. Stinson observed, as firefighters began efforts to extricate the truck.

Taken from the scene on a stretcher was a woman who appeared to be in her 60s. An Oshawa firefighter said she was the driver. The unidentified woman was shaken up but not hurt, officials on the scene said.

Mr. Morgan said when they saw the crash scene he and Mr. Stinson rushed inside, The woman was still at the wheel and they assisted her, he said.

"She was in the truck, shaking," Mr. Morgan said. "We helped her out."

The upset driver was apologetic about the mishap, he said.

"We're just glad to see she's OK," Mr. Morgan said.

Standing at the cash register inside the store at the time of the crash was Rick Andrews, who said he heard nothing until the plate glass window was shattered by the truck.

"It shook the s--- out of me," he said. "It was pretty scary."

What caused the crash wasn't immediately evident. Some bystanders said they'd heard the sound of squealing tires before a loud crash. Durham police remained on scene investigating the incident.